Articles Archives - Page 129 of 138

Sep032015Oct032019

Singaporean’s Youth Facing Binge Drinking

Singapores-Youth-Facing-Binge-Drinking-in-Epidemic-Proportions When we first become adults and we are learning our limits in the world around us, sometimes we push those limits a little too far. Part of becoming an adult is learning our limits and when to say enough is enough. Unfortunately for many young adults, binge drinking is a dangerous way to test those waters. With the drinking age in Singapore is 18, it is crucial to educate these young adults while they are still being formally educated.

Singapore’s government has debated raising the legal drinking age to 21, but some elected officials state that raising the drinking age would only be a quick fix. Especially with many young citizens serving in the military, it does not make sense for many to raise the drinking age when you dedicate your life to your nation.

Some cultural trends might point to why teenagers and young adults are turning to binge drinking. With college and university schedules being rigorous and time consuming or while embarking on adulthood searching for the right path in life, binge drinking is a way for many to cope with the stress and anxiety of the difficulties of growing up. Drinking is a quick and socially acceptable way to unwind after a long day of classes, homework or job hunting. Yet as with most issues concerning young and emerging adults, they do not know their limits and drink to the point of physical detriment. Binge drinking can cause lifelong liver and kidney damage, peptic ulcers, damage to the esophagus from constant vomiting, and potentially death if not treated properly and immediately.

It is hard growing up and learning your way in the world. The best way to treat youth binge drinking is with a lot of understanding and with outreach. Being a young adult comes with a lot of freedom and learning about how to conduct yourself, but it also comes with the price of responsibility. Self-restraint is probably the most important part of educating the young of Singapore on how to avoid the pitfalls of binge drinking. When young adults learn to control their impulses instead of acting on them often they live happier and healthier lifestyles. For those who become alcoholics and are unable to control these impulses on their own, DARA is here to help you become the healthiest person you can be.

If you, or someone you care about, needs help for a drug or alcohol addiction,
contact us at 1-888-457-3518 US, 0-808-120-3633 UK or 1-800-990-523 AU.
We’re here to help you take that first important step.

Aug272015Apr252025

Electronic Record-Keeping System Keeps DARA On Cutting Edge

Articles

We continually look forward at DARA in order to provide the highest quality of treatment and to maintain our international reputation as a premiere drug and alcohol treatment center. Now we have extended our ability to offer the best possible care by becoming the first international provider to use Kipu Systems, a leader in cutting edge technology for electronic medical records. Kipu is an easy-to-use, comprehensive system that has the capability of storing data on clients from the time of first contact all the way through treatment and into after-care. It allows everyone on the professional team to have access to the same information about clients, which avoids duplication and minimizes error. In addition to helping provide the best possible patient care, Kipu saves money in terms of hours spent on record-keeping and maximizes time our professional team can spend with clients.

Accurate, Accessible Records Important In Accreditation

Full implementation of the Kipu system is important in terms of accreditation by CARF International, as well. Members of CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) hold behavioral health facilities to the highest of standards. The accreditation process allows us to consult with CARF in order to continually improve our services and our relationship with our clients. Because of Kipu, we will remain in the forefront of drug and alcohol treatment centers. As a leading international destination for rehab, DARA puts clients first. We tailor our services to meet each client’s individual needs. With the addition of Kipu systems, we will have easy access to the treatment process for each person who comes here to begin the road to recovery. It will help us to assure that each client has access to services needed and will emphasize our ongoing commitment to professional teamwork in treating our clients with the dignity and respect they expect and deserve.

Aug132015Jan272016

Seven Ways Culture Contributes to Addiction

Articles, Education

If individual responsibility has any meaning, then a person suffering from addiction bears responsibility for his or her recovery, once the opportunity for recovery is presented. However, we are all products of our respective cultures, and there is a fair argument that culture can be a contributor to the dynamics of addiction.

To anyone who says, “Well, drug use is an individual problem; most people either choose not to start or find a way to moderate their use,” we could point out that there are cultures where addiction is unknown, and others where it is minimal. Similarly, there are cultures that have an extremely high incidence of alcoholism and addiction. A clear example would be Native Americans, who did not exhibit a particular tendency toward alcohol or substance abuse when their primary challenges were dealing with survival in nature and the occasional skirmish with rival tribes. Once European culture encroached on the land and relentlessly marginalized Native Americans, the stresses imposed on the culture expressed themselves in—among other things—a predisposition for alcohol and substance abuse. One Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) article states that a “crucial individual motive is that drunkenness can provide short-cut gratification by providing fantasy solutions to culture-bound problems.”

There are a number of ways in which culture contributes to addiction. These include the following:

Peer pressure to conform among adolescents
Stressors in the social environment of adolescents
Popular culture and its promotion of alcohol as glamorous
Advertising and its promotion of alcohol use
Advertising by the pharmaceutical industry and its promotion of the idea that drugs are a cure-all for all manner of psychic symptoms, especially depression and anxiety
The criminalization of drug use, such that drug users, once involved with the criminal justice system, become labeled and marginalized, usually becoming exactly what the system ostensibly wants to prevent.
Treatment availability – A culture’s ongoing preference for treating addiction as a problem of criminal behavior rather than as a public health issue determines that individuals needing medical help are instead locked up. In terms of cost as well as effectiveness, treatment offers tremendous benefits over incarceration, which tends to reinforce, rather than reduce, tendencies toward further substance abuse and consequent criminal behavior.

Aug072015Apr252025

Need for Addiction Treatment Rising In Middle East

Articles, International, Understanding Addiction

Civil unrest and violence in Middle Eastern countries are having far-reaching effects in terms of rising incidences of drug and alcohol addiction and the need for effective treatment. Our internationally certified staff makes it a point to stay on top of current affairs worldwide. We are prepared to offer needed services to individuals in the Middle East who are suffering from addiction. Reports from Baghdad, Iraq, in particular have shown that the high rate of personal loss among families as the result of war and related violence has contributed to substance abuse. The emotional trauma of grief and loss has caused people to seek solace in drugs and alcohol. Dependence on chemicals to ease the pain has reached alarming rates. Of equal concern is the number of children who are using illegal drugs. When they experience the psychological stress of violence, they, too, are turning to drugs as a way to cope with the loss of family members. Officials have noticed the uprisings that have occurred since 2011 seems to have sparked drug-related problems, including incidences of smuggling and dealing.

DARA Prepared To Help In International Setting

As a highly reputable provider of addiction recovery treatment in the international community, DARA has set processes in motion to help alleviate the repercussions of increased substance abuse in the Middle East. We already are serving clients from these war-torn areas, and we are taking steps to increase our capabilities. We want these people who are traumatized by the violence and upheaval in their countries to understand that we have compassionate solutions to their substance abuse problems. Starting August 1, we will have an Arabic-speaking counselor on our team as part of our recognition of the needs of this growing segment of the population. We also offer Halal foods, in accordance with the spiritual beliefs of many clients from the Middle East.

Jul302015Apr252025

The United Kingdom’s Binge Drinking Problem

Articles

Binge drinking is out of control in the Northern England city of Newcastle. Studies show that 36 percent of the population dangerously binge drinks and drinks more on a daily basis in comparison to the rest of the nation. Some officials state that the price of alcohol is too low and accessible, that a standard and higher unit price needs to be set, and that health information needs to be added to each individual unit of alcohol sold. Yet, there is another way.

Many would say that the best way to deal with the issue of binge drinking is not to raise the price on alcohol products, it is to educate and treat the afflicted and effected. When prices are raised in such a fashion, alcoholics and binge drinkers will only find a way to fund their addiction in illegal or dangerous ways instead of discouraging them to continue drinking. Education and prevention programs are the best way to reach out to those addicted to any substance, alcohol included. Drinking at this rate has become part of the fiber of this part of England. To change this, outreach has to start young before minors begin to illegal drink because drinking early as a teen may turn into becoming an alcoholic once beer and liquor is more accessible after reaching the legal drinking age.

The best way to combat such high and dangerous binge drinking statistics coming out of Northern England is to start with community outreach. When people are educated at a young age in schools with programs plainly laying out the dangers of abusing alcohol the way students receive education on illicit drug use, the region will see statistics drop. Unfortunately when the hidden dangers of abusing alcohol are treated casually and not as dangerous as drug use, statistics like these will only continue to rise.